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Joel Benjamin has been a big part of the American chess scene since the late 1970’s. He has written two monthly columns for Chess Life and was the publisher/editor of the offbeat, humor filled magazine Chess Chow, which had a small but loyal following back in the early nineties. Currently he can be heard on ICC doing his commentary for the “Game of the Week” videos, which is quite good. In his new autobiography, American Grandmaster, Joel takes the reader through four decades of his life in chess, from 1977-2006. Benjamin starts things off by sharing with the reader what it was like being a child prodigy in the late seventies (with some wondering if he was the next Fischer!?). Says Joel: I think it was at the Manhattan C.C. where I first heard people speak of me as the “second Fischer”. The label did produce some backlash—one old lady said I was “not worthy of licking Fischer’s boots”—but most people were very supportive. It’s these types of candid comments and colorful tidbits that make this book standout from your average chess autobiography (which are often little more than game collections). In fact, you could spend a very enjoyable afternoon just reading through all of Joel’s stories, sans games. But games there are, and a large portion of the book covers Joel’s adventures in the 23 straight (a record) US Championships he played in (from 1983 to 2006). The format he uses is to give one game from each year along with a few interesting comments/anecdotes. For example, in his introductory remarks to the 1989 US Championship in Long Beach, CA, Joel tells how Stuart Rachels was actually the inspiration for the “Samford Fellowship” (something I was unaware of): Thanks to major sponsorship from Les Crane and his Software Toolworks company, the field was restored to sixteen in another zonal year. Long Beach provided a less depressing backdrop [Joel is referring to Cambridge Springs, PA, the site of the previous year’s tournament and the place from which the Queen’s Gambit Cambridge Springs Variation got its name.-MJ] and big city spectators made us feel more at home. Another surprise winner emerged in U.S. Junior Champion Stuart Rachels. A one time holder of the youngest U.S. master record, Rachels never intended for chess to be a professional career, and this result didn’t change his mind. Rachels actually inspired Frank Samford Jr. to endow his annual fellowship for a young outstanding professional.
Seirawan and Dzindzi also tied for first. I had my ups and downs; a horrible blunder against Dlugy nearly wrecked my chances but I managed to finish in a three-way tie for the last two Interzonal spots with Miles and DeFirmian. The next May we got down to settling the tie in a playoff, and I became the odd man out. After losing to Miles in the zonal and the playoff, and watching him take a coveted American slot, you can imagine how bitter I felt. Then the ACF successfully petitioned FIDE for an Interzonal spot for Gata Kamsky, who hadn’t even played in the zonal. If the Manila Interzonal had been on TV, I wouldn’t have watched. Wow, strong words. But it’s this type of honesty that makes for such compelling reading. During the 1991 US Championship in Los Angeles, Benjamin had to deal with Gata Kamsky’s father, which from all reports was a most unpleasant task. Says Joel: I told Gata no one would respect him, no matter how good he got, if his father continued to behave as he did. He didn’t seem to understand. In the last game, with Rustam barred from the tournament room (too little, too late), I could muster no offense and agreed a draw in a bad position. In another chapter, Benjamin shares how proud he is of having played on many US Chess Olympiad teams: The Olympiad is the best tournament in the world—nothing else comes close. You get to see (and hopefully play) the best players in the world. You get to socialize with, for a change, members of the opposite sex. And if you are lucky, you get to represent the USA. Speaking of meeting the opposite sex, Joel shares how he ended up meeting his wife at the 2002 Bled Olympiad: Over a few mojitos, I got to know Deborah Quinn from the Irish team. Fifteen months later we were married. Out of tragedy came a blessing! Debbie had been playing in the Olympiad since 1990. Though I knew most of her teammates, somehow we had not met before. Could we have had many more years together, or would the wrong timing have ruined everything? Just another mystery of life to ponder.
Other chapters cover his time spent playing in international tournaments, as well his role in helping IBM’s super computer, Deep Blue, defeat Kasparov. Joel humorously calls this chapter his Blue Period. Many years ago a friend and I shared a taxi cab from the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas (where the National Open had just finished) to McCarran Airport with Benjamin. During our conversation I remember Joel telling us with more than a little satisfaction how pleased he was that Deep Blue had “crushed” Kasparov. And my friend was so impressed at being able to sit in the presence of a GM that he paid for the cab! Tip for Playing through Benjamin’s Games One helpful tip I can give you is to have your laptop next to you while reading this book. I say this because I found I wanted to play through many of the games that Joel talks about, but didn’t want to constantly reset a chess board. So, I simply created a “Benjamin Database” from Megabase 2008, which contains all of Joel’s published games (1571 of them!). This way, when I got to a key game or position in the book, I could quickly play through it using Chessbase (and hit the Fritz button if something was unclear to me). One Complaint This last comment about using Fritz actually brings me to my only complaint about the book: lack of annotations. The games are very lightly annotated, with several games receiving no annotations whatsoever. Those of you who remember Joel’s excellent annotations in Chess Chow (as well as in his many fine Chess Life articles), don’t expect that level of depth here. Obviously Benjamin decided to spend the majority of his energy writing up the interesting prefaces to the games. And actually I applaud this. I would much rather hear about the “behind the scenes” stories that took place at the different chess tournaments he attended than read about another line in the Ruy. Still, had he put a little more effort into the game annotations, this book would have gotten a 9. (Throw in photos, and we’re approaching ten territory!) For example, in the wild game between DeFirmian and Miles at the 1988 U.S. Championship in Cambridge Springs, on move eleven Defirmian played Nd5!? (See Diagram)
After DeFirmian’s 11.Nd5!? Miles declined the piece offer and played 11…Bc5+. But what would have happened if he had taken the knight? Benjamin doesn’t say. After looking at it with some friends, we concluded that White gets a powerful pawn center and a killer attack if the knight is taken. But Joel really should have provided some annotation here. BTW, here is the rest of this crazy game where DeFirmian offers up his Queen on move 16!: 12.Kh1 Bd4 13.e6 fxe6 14.Bc7 Qa4 15.Ne7+ Kh8 16.Ng5! h5 (Again, no comment here from Joel if Black captures White’s Queen with 16…Bxf1. Had this happened, the result is a beautiful two knights mate: 17. Rxf8+ Nxf8 18. Nf7#.) 17.Rxf8+ Nxf8 18.Qf1 Nbd7 19.Qf7 Nf6 20.e5 1–0 Two Positions from Benjamin’s Games During the 1991 U.S. Championship in Los Angeles, Benjamin faced one of the strongest players in the world, Gata Kamsky. Gata’s choice of opening was the tame, but can-still-be-dangerous-if-taken-lightly, London System. However, Joel says he was well prepared. G. Kamsky – J. Benjamin
Black to Move Kamsky has just played the overly-ambitious 23.Bh6? How did Joel punish him? (Answer at end of review.) And here’s one more position from the following year: A. Ivanov – J. Benjamin
Black to Move Joel says that the move he played in the above diagram “just might be my favorite move of my career.” What did he play? (Answer at end of review.) Joel concludes the book with several interesting chapters that contain no chess games. He tells what it was like running Chess Chow, being in the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer, coaching our young up-in-comers at the Pan American and World Youth Games, his semi-retirement, and his thoughts on the current state of chess in America. As to this last chapter, Benjamin has a problem with the flood of foreign players that have come to the US over the past two decades and feels they hurt our homegrown talent by, for example, taking away the few precious spots on our US Olympiad team. Says Benjamin: In 1989, amid the euphoria of the changes in the Soviet Union, I was asked for my opinion on glasnost. I replied that it was “the greatest disaster in the history of American Chess.” Finally, I’ll leave you with few of the more titillating comments from the book: Chicago ’83 was largely forgettable for me. The nightly screenings of porno movies did, however, leave an impression. From Debbie Does Dallas to Behind the Green Door, young chessplayers from around the world received quite an education.
I never heard of Cap d’Agde, but when I googled it I found it was known for its nudist colony. I didn’t find the colony, but I did find fine French food and more wine than I could possibly drink.
The toilet facilities at the tournament hall were, at least in my view, unacceptable. There was no way I was going to do my business in a hole in the ground. The hall did have a conventional toilet, but it was reserved for Kasparov. (Just imagine what Topolov would have said!-MJ) The Bottom Line This is a fun book. You get to read the thoughts of a strong GM as he takes you through his 30 years of chess adventures. Honesty, a bit of ego, love for the great game of chess, and good writing skills make this autobiography a success. Yeah, I would have liked more game annotations and perhaps some photos, but still a very enjoyable book from one of America’s best grandmasters. On a scale of 1-10, American Grandmaster (Four Decades of Chess Adventure) by Joel Benjamin gets an 8.5.
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Another
interesting chapter is called, The Circuit, where Joel talks about
playing in the many big Swiss tournaments around the country, such as the
World Open, New York Open, etc. His battles with Gufeld, Browne, Wolff
and other top GMs are covered, as well as his friendships with Christiansen,
DeFirmian, Fedorowicz, Rhode and Wilder.
